US Army CH47F Chinooks Receive RNP-RNAV Capabilities from Rockwell Collins

By Staff Writer | April 1, 2015

Attack

The U.S. Army has upgraded its CH-47F fleet with the new Required Navigation Performance-Area Navigation (RNP-RNAV) system from Rockwell Collins.

The upgrade for CH-47F Chinooks equipped with Rockwell Collins’ Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS) was most recently fielded with the Minnesota/Iowa National Guard, as well as the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade at Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii. The enhanced capability, initially fielded in the fall of 2014, allows Chinook users to operate in and around civil airspace with safety benefits previously afforded only to commercial aircraft.

“RNP-RNAV provides tactical helicopters with full civil airspace interoperability under current flight rules. It eliminates the need to obtain waivers or be limited to non-preferred routing, while ensuring timely and efficient mission planning and execution,” said Troy Brunk, vice president and general manager of Airborne Solutions for Rockwell Collins. “Our seamless integration of RNP-RNAV capabilities with the Chinook’s combat-proven tactical flight and performance management system exemplifies how Rockwell Collins is a leader in bringing open system architecture solutions to our military customers through software-only upgrades.”

The RNP software also allows the Chinook user to be compliant with civil flight rules while operating in the continental U.S., Europe and other areas of the world where traffic congestion is being addressed by newer Communication, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management rules.